They were the best of times...

They were the best of times...
and the worse of times.

The softball games were family
oriented. We would have our husbands
and children cheering us from the side
lines. Our team wasn't the greatest. And
Cle Elum and Easton would beat us bad...
no, I mean really bad....We played I believe
5 innings. We would get beat like ...11
or 15 to 0. I was the pop-up queen. I
could slug that ball like no one's business.
Working at smashing cars gives you
great arm power... BUT... they would just
go back and wait for it to come to them
and catch it 60% of the time. I played
center outfield. Because I had a good
enough arm to get it back in field. Today,
that arm is mush...lol..

The only bad thing that happen to us,
and we were lucky.. Is when we started
our smashing business, there were a few
people who were not happy about it. So
I guess one decided to do something about it.

By the way, we were licensed (which was
not easy in those days) and bonded. Anyway,
we had a load ready to go. The truck was a
1960 GMC semi with a 40 foot trailer. We
would park it in the back and then at 3 am,
my husband would get up and take it to
Renton to a scrap iron place that shredded
cars. That was going over Snoqualmie Pass,
which could be bumpy. When he got there,
he was weighed and then there was a crane
with a huge magnetic that picked the cars
off the trailer and put them on the belt which
took them to the hopper. As my husband was
driving up to the office to collect his money,
there was a loud boom. They had him come
into the main office and sit. The police came
and there was a lot of commotion over the
hopper. Almost an hour, later they sat and
talked to him. It seems there was dynamite
in one of the cars that he had brought in.
Being he had dealt with them for years, they
knew it wasn't him. So they asked him if
anyone would want to kill him. Because as
surely as he was bouncing across the pass,
it could have gone off. The hopper was out
of commission for a week. After that we
always had a large light on the truck and
our dog tied to it . There was rumors it was
one of the junk yards owners, he didn't like
the idea we were getting cars and smashing
them. But we never could prove it and we
never had any trouble again. I think one of
the reasons why, was because some one
told them, that the kids and I rode with
him quite often.

Things that come to mind...wooden
nickles that the tavern gave out. When
someone bought you a beer... I have
a few some where in this house.
Camping out at Bull Frog road next to
the creek in sleeping bags. And my 8
year old son showing me how to start
a camp fire with out matches. The
people there... great people. I even wrote
a good bye letter to the editor of the paper
at the time we left. Thanking them for all
the kindness they did over the years, for
the kids and my husband and I. Especially
when my husband ended up in the Vet's
hospital in Vancouver, Washington.

We moved from Roslyn because the
market went out of scrap iron. My husband
worked for a hay transport and then a
meat transport in Ellensburg. We found
a place out in Cooke Canyon, which was a
wonderful place for the kids. And it was
closer to his job.
.
Both places were the best place to raise
kids. And I think my kids show that.

And this walk down memory lane has
been really nice. Even got an email from
a wonderful young man who growing up
there when we were there and leaving.
And he still lives there. He has help fill
some of the holes in my memory. Thanks,
Ken E. and thank you, Phil for asking.
And yes, thanks to my partner in crime,
Ethel/Shirley...